Portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, Manner of Federico Zuccaro.

Oil on canvas in a 19th century gilt frame with gold label 'Mary Queen of Scots. Federigo Zuccaro' 1543-1609'.

To the left of the sitter the very faint inscription 'Anno 1564. Aetatis ....'.

Original frame.

This beautiful portrait is in the manner of Federico Zuccaro, but painted c.1840. The queen wears magnificent gold chains, jewellery and a hugely costly dress. The quality of the painting of this opulence is superb, and contrasts perfectly with the sensitive depiction of the sitter's youthful face.

This image dates from the early 19th century when, in continuation of what had happened when after the Stuarts came to power with the accession of Mary's son James I, a process of history rewriting took place, and continued almost to the present day

Mary had been called an adulteress and traitor by the English and was beheaded for plotting to assassinate her cousin Elizabeth I,but under the Stuarts she was presented as a beautiful and religious princess unjustly executed for her Catholic faith.

All through the 17th c, and later, portraits of Mary were created; this one shows her, rather idealised, at the age of 22 in 1564 when she had returned to Scotland after the death of her husband King Francis II of France.

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (born as Mary Stewart and known in French as Marie Stuart; 1542 – 1587), was Scottish queen regnant from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567. In the lists of Scottish sovereigns, she is recognized as Mary I. (Not to be confused with Mary I of England.) Her great-great-granddaughter was Mary II of England.

She was the only surviving legitimate child of King James V. She was six days old when her father died and she was crowned nine months later. In 1558, she married Francis, Dauphin of France, who ascended the French throne as Francis II in 1559. Mary was not Queen of France for long; she was widowed on 5 December 1560. After her husband's death, Mary returned to Scotland, arriving in Leith on 19 August 1561. Four years later, she married her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Their union was unhappy and in February 1567, there was a huge explosion at their house, and Darnley was found dead, apparently strangled, in the garden.

She soon married James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was generally believed to be Darnley's murderer. Following an uprising against the couple, Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle on 15 June and forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son, James VI. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, Mary fled to England seeking protection from her first cousin once removed, Queen Elizabeth I, whose kingdom she hoped to inherit. Elizabeth ordered her arrest because of the threat presented by Mary, who had previously claimed Elizabeth's throne as her own and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics, including participants in the Rising of the North. After 19 years in custody in a number of castles and manor houses in England, she was tried and executed for treason for her involvement in three plots to assassinate Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth died childless in 1603, Mary's son James VI of Scotland became James I of England. (James was a descendant of Henry VII of England through his great-grandmother Margaret Tudor, older sister of Henry VIII.)

FEDERICO ZUCCARO, also known as Federico Zuccari (c. 1542/1543 - July 20, 1609), was an Italian Mannerist painter and architect, active in Italy and other European countries.

In 1574 he came to England, where he received commissions to paint the portrait of Queen Elizabeth, Mary, Queen of Scots, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Sir Francis Walsingham, Lord High Admiral Howard, and others.

SIZE: 39.25 x 30 inches.

PROVENANCE: Hampshire Private Collection.